In a new analysis by the National Employment Law Project, it has been revealed that dozens of state laws that make it less difficult for people with arrest/conviction records to get job licenses aren’t working the way they should.
According to NELP, in a report titled “Unlicensed & Untapped: Removing Barriers to State Occupational Licenses for People with Records,” more than one in four workers in the country need a license to work in their chosen occupation. Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books designed to reduce job licensing restrictions for people with arrest or conviction records. But NELP says that these laws have fallen short of their goals.
“Blanket bans are preventing people with convictions from entering state-regulated occupations, and although more states are paying attention to this issue, stronger reforms are needed,” said Michelle Natividad Rodriguez, NELP senior staff attorney and lead author of the report, in a statement. “Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by these barriers. Given that nearly one in three adults in the U.S. has a record, the effects on communities and our nation’s economy are far-reaching. Any serious effort to address racial disparities in employment must root out unwarranted barriers to occupational licenses.”
“Major reform of state occupational licensing barriers against people with records is necessary if we’re going to make headway in giving jobseekers struggling to overcome the stigma of a record a fair chance to contribute to their communities, participate in the economy and find good work that can sustain their families,” said Beth Avery, NELP staff attorney and co-author of the report, in a statement.
Legislators have implemented so-called fair-chance hiring reforms and other policies designed to regulate the use of criminal background checks that put citizens with records at a disadvantage. But bans that disqualify people with convictions from obtaining licenses in their profession remain in the occupational laws of many states. According to the American Bar Association, there are 27,000 state occupational licensing restrictions around the country against people with arrest and conviction records, with 19,000 of them permanent/lifetime disqualifications and 11,000 being mandatory disqualifications (which leaves licensing agencies no other choice).
The report finds that most of the laws that are supposed to be helping fall short of effectively increasing opportunities in state-licensed occupations for people with records. NELP’s report grades each state’s law with the grades of “Most Effective,” “Satisfactory,” “Minimal” or “Unsatisfactory.” The report also offers policy recommendations for legislators and highlights the legal reforms needed to create more opportunities for potential workers with records who hope to work in licensed occupations.
“Although the prevalence of ‘Unsatisfactory’ grades for the current state laws points to the need for stronger reform, it’s clear that there is increasing interest among state policymakers to remove unnecessary disqualifications of people with records,” stated Avery. “Just in this last legislative cycle, lawmakers introduced bills addressing criminal record licensing barriers in at least 11 states: Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin.”
